Bony fish · Atheriniformes · Melanotaeniidae
Boeseman's Rainbowfish
Melanotaenia boesemani
It faces a very high risk of extinction in the wild in the near future. See full glossary
Boeseman's rainbowfish is an atheriniform fish of the family Melanotaeniidae native to South East Asia. The species was discovered by Dr Marinus Boeseman around 1955. It was later described by Gerald Allen and Norbert Cross in 1980, and introduced into Europe in 1982 by Heiko Bleher. From then on the species was bred in captivity for subsequent sale worldwide as an ornamental fish. According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature, it is an endangered species.
Size
up to 9 cm
Diet
Omnivore
Combines animal and plant food depending on availability.
Social structure
School
Gathers in coordinated schools, typical of fish.
Sighting difficulty
Hard
Fun facts
- GeneralIts front half is blue and its back half orange, as though it were two fish.
- It lives only in the Ayamaru Lakes and in Lake Aitinjo, twenty kilometres to the south-east: a tiny range that explains its Endangered status.
- In the late 1980s some 60,000 males a month were exported from the Ayamaru region for the aquarium trade, and the Indonesian government eventually restricted it.
- The specimens on sale are almost always drab juveniles: the adult colouring, with an orange rear half and a greyish-blue front, takes more than a year to develop.
Life cycle & biology
- Skeleton type
- Vertebrate - internal bony skeleton (bony fish)
- Habitat & environment
- Tropical lakes and streams with vegetation
Sources consulted: https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melanotaenia_boesemani
Related species
Other species in the catalogue with the most in common with Boeseman's Rainbowfish — same habitat, park, country, tags or family.
Southeast Asian Box Turtle
Cuora amboinensis
Least ConcernCommon Carp
Cyprinus carpio
Goldfish
Carassius auratus
Guppy
Poecilia reticulata
Pig-Nosed Turtle
Carettochelys insculpta
Sumatra Barb
Puntigrus tetrazona
How to help
The boeseman's rainbowfish is classified as endangered. Organizations such as UICN, WWF y Wildlife Conservation Society work specifically on its conservation and that of its habitat; looking into their programs is a good starting point if you want to get involved.
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